CPC 101: They Are Also CPC Members – Yang Liwei, China's First "Taikonaut"

“I saw our beautiful home, it looks pretty awesome!” This is how Yang Liwei felt and described to his family on the phone after he saw Planet Earth from space during his flight around the Earth in the Shenzhou V manned spacecraft.

Yang Liwei became China’s first astronaut to enter space at 5:28 p.m. on Oct. 15, 2003, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center with the launch of the Shenzhou V manned spacecraft.

Born in northeast China, Yang became a fighter jet pilot in the Air Force in 1987 and joined the Communist Party of China the following year. In 1998, he became one of the first astronauts in China. Facing a welcoming crowd after his successful landing on October 16, 2003, he said excitedly, “I’m proud of my country!”

With Yang’s successful return, the thousand-year dream of the Chinese nation to fly into space was realized, and China became the third country to master manned space technology after the United States and Russia.